Ah shit.

Infernal ink coiled around Vega’s wrist, staining her skin red.

She wondered how Ezekiel felt, reduced to just another of Amaya’s puppets. His only purpose to obey her every command. Did he resent it? Did he want to be more than a mere pawn?

Victory healed all bruised egos though.

It was Vega's job to piss on their parade.

Vega prepared to attack. Her opponents had landed a blow, but they hadn’t escaped unscathed. Ezekiel slumped against his sword, heavily panting and leaning against it like a crutch. Amaya’s half metal face didn’t bear its exhaustion so openly, but she’d already used two artefacts to protect herself. Her resources had to run out eventually.

Vega glanced at her right wrist. She created an explosive marble inside her palm, winding back her shoulder for a throw.

She unfurled her arm, but the moment Vega opened her fist, her wrist snapped sideways.

An infernal string connected Vega’s wrist to her opponent’s glove. When Amaya jerked her hand aside, so did Vega.

The explosive launched harmlessly into the barrier wall.

It’s worse than I thought.

Vega could barely resist Amaya’s strings. Her wrist wasn’t dragged aside; it felt compelled to move on its own.

Vega prepared another, this time focusing solely on herself.

Focusing on remembering who the fuck she was.

She was the fucking champion of E grade, the number one fucking fighter, the top fucking dog.

She wouldn’t let a fucking tattoo tell her what the fuck to do.

This time, her projectile fired true. It soared towards her enemies until Ezekiel batted it out of the air with the unpainted edge of his sword.

Vega checked her wrist. The mark was still there.

Fuck!

When I keep myself grounded, I still have control. When I lose focus, she can control me.

Vega looked at the single rune left on Ezekiel’s sword before glancing back at her wrist.

‘More runes means more control’

If this is what one hit does… what happens after the next one?

The red glyph pressed against her skin; a permanent reminder of the one hit her opponents had landed already.

Can't let them get another.

E grade’s number one gladiator seethed with silent rage as she marched forward. She’d already established this fight wouldn’t be won by finesse. Now she had to stop dragging her feet.

Jay had researched the technique’s whole history to overcome a domain. She just had to lock the fuck in and do her fucking job.

Strategy fell by the wayside as Vega’s steady march became a sprint. She didn’t need a plan right now. That wasn’t her fight. The more she planned ahead, the weaker her will against the strings became.

Both Vega’s arms blazed bright orange as she entered Ezekiel’s gigantic range. Although the swordsman could hit her, his sword’s heft meant she wasn’t in danger yet.

He swung at Vega's legs. An explosion beneath her feet carried her over it. Another propelled her forward, completely bypassing Ezekiel. She landed directly between both her opponents.

A red string shot towards her.

Vega looked at her wrist.

The string ignored her. It flew past her shoulder.

The sword.

The string loosened; it stopped moving for a split second.

Vega almost looked behind her, but she kept her focus trained on the puppeteer. Amaya pulled her outstretched arms back.

The string pulled taut.

Vega doubled down. Charging forward as the cursed sword trailed her.

She could’ve dodged. Leapt to the side. Abandoned her attack to ensure the sword would miss.

But that wasn’t her fight. She had to attack.

Vega’s legs pummelled the gravel as she sprinted forwards. Her outstretched arms flared brilliant white, combusting the air they cut through and leaving a trail of airborne flames behind her.

Another infernal string joined the first, this time tied to Vega’s wrist.

But Vega felt nothing pulling her aside, and no urge to move it either.

A stupid fucking string could never fucking stop her.

Vega dove into her opponent. Amaya shrieked in pain as Vega’s searing hands pinned her to the ground.

Sky blue pulsed from underneath Amaya’s cloak. Ice shards crystallized instantly. Freezing the air between the two gladiators.

Again?

Vega snatched the amulet. She crushed it in her fist with a muffled blast.

The ice vanished.

Fear gripped Amaya’s sole human eye.

Sheer terror silenced her screams. Primal fear overriding mere pain.

The amulet couldn’t protect Amaya anymore.

But it had stalled Vega long enough.

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Ezekiel’s sword clattered into Vega’s ankle. Vega could almost feel the restrictive ink leaping from the sword and coiling around her leg. The sword’s impact hurt, but it was only glancing. Vega stayed in place.

Then came its master.

Ezekiel barrelled into Vega. He pushed her off Amaya, grasping the cuff of her robes as he launched on top of her. Both fighters tumbled away from Amaya’s body.

Ezekiel clawed at Vega’s neck, but his nails barely scratched her. Vega grunted, flipping him over and lunging at the swordsman’s head. She gouged his eyes, her incandescent fingers scorching the flesh they dug into.

They rolled over again, careening across the gravel. Vega clambered above her opponent the instant they stopped.

Her fiery left hand clamped down on his neck, anchoring it to the ground. The familiar stench of blistering flesh filled Vega’s lungs.

She raised her right arm.

It rose into the air. Gathering strength. Building heat.

Vega willed her right fist downwards. Straight at her opponent’s defenceless face.

It didn’t move.

Hand raised above her head. Seconds away from a kill. Vega’s fist simply refused to move.

A flaming string locked her wrist in place. Vega followed its course.

Amaya Ironglove was barely standing. She had her hands clasped together. Desperately clinging onto the infernal string linking her to her opponent.

Three more strings shot from her hands. One tightened around Vega’s ankle. The other two latched onto Ezekiel’s prone body.

Vega jerked backwards; her leg pulled aside as the almost-dead swordsman was dragged from beneath her.

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Ezekiel escaped, and the entirety of the Celestial Swords tavern fell silent.

It’d been full of cheers mere moments before. Cries for burning blood had filled Jay’s ears after Vega downed Amaya, and again after she’d grappled on top of Ezekiel.

The entire pub had buzzed with pure anticipation. Even Lyra was shouting, screaming for violence between cries for urgency.

Not anymore.

Only dread remained. The grim realisation that Vega Twinstrike’s window of opportunity might have shut, that her final chance to land a killshot had potentially passed.

----------------------------------------

The hold on Vega's wrist loosened. Her fist slammed into the gravel. Blasting a crater where Ezekiel's head was mere moments ago.

Vega took a knee. She looked at the inky seal wrapped around her ankle.

The blood red coil was identical to the one on her wrist, only bigger. It clamped off her leg from the rest of her body, and felt like someone had tied a belt around her calf and ratcheted it as hard as they could.

Vega heaved, pushing off her own leg as she forced herself upright. The fight wasn’t over yet.

Both her opponents hunched over, slouching onto Ezekiel’s sword to support themselves.

The sword had no runes left.

Ezekiel clutched the handle of his weapon like it was the only thing keeping him standing. He gnashed his teeth against each other and swallowed the pain. Every inch of skin on his neck blistered and bubbled. His face burned bright pink, and still-burning shreds of old scar tissue sloughed onto the ground. The swordsman’s right eye had swollen completely shut. His other didn’t stray from Vega for a second.

Amaya’s cloak lay discarded in a pile of ash behind her. Scorch marks littered the light armour she wore underneath. Both shoulders had been charred completely. She batted off a few cinders, knocking away strips of burnt leather and revealing her bare shoulder beneath it. She coughed and wheezed, resting a gloved hand on her partner’s sword to stabilise herself.

The seared imprints of Vega’s fingertips branded Amaya’s artificial scalp. Her flaming left eye jammed against its socket, no longer darting around the arena but permanently staring upwards. Her biological wounds didn’t match her partner’s, but the sounds almost made up for it. Her throat grated and wheezed with every breath. She spluttered and coughed up a lungful of blood onto gravel. Another joined it, staining the dirt red.

Ezekiel pulled his partner upright by the scruff of her neck. He whispered something in her ear. Vega watched Amaya nod and spit the rest of the blood out of her mouth

Ezekiel the Soulsnatcher raised his colossal sword. He trudged towards Vega. Leading the charge for the first time all fight.

Vega raised her guard.

Or at least she tried to.

Her left fist obeyed the call to action instantly. Her right could barely move.

Amaya’s crimson strings clung to Vega, anchoring themselves against the runes adorning her body.

Vega wrestled for control over her own body. She fought against the puppeteer’s oppressive will, screaming at her limbs to obey. Eventually her right fist rose, but it felt like dragging a mountain, Vega needed her full focus just to move it.

Despite his injuries, Ezekiel had hardly slowed down since the beginning of the fight. He flourished his sword around him, building up momentum before engaging.

Vega didn't move.

More movements meant splitting her focus and letting Amaya take control more easily.

Keep it simple. Don't give them an opening.

Vega looked towards the swordsman. The spinning hunk of metal looked almost like a silver forcefield surrounding him. With her mobility compromised Vega didn’t know how she could break through to him without getting hit again.

No runes left…

Can’t get worse than this right?

Vega looked over at Amaya. She’d spent all fight chasing the puppeteer, but Amaya had evaded her every time.

How do I end this?

What do I need to do?

Vega’s wrist tugged. Her ankle shifted to the side, weakening her base.

Stop fucking overthinking…

She regained some control.

Start fucking fighting.

Vega threw a marble into the ground in front of her. It fired up a plume of dust, obstructing her opponents’ view. She shifted her hands behind her. Her right arm still felt sluggish, but she could just about move it.

Vega crouched, before firing herself into the air with a gigantic explosion.

She looked down at the arena from the zenith of her explosive leap, instantly locating Amaya.

Not that that was hard. There were two bright red strings guiding the way.

Another explosion sent Vega hurtling down to ground. She followed Amaya’s strings like a laser. Building up energy in her entire body, preparing to release it the moment she landed.

Vega knew that her limbs would betray her if she tried to get fancy with them.

She had to keep things simple.

And what was simpler than a giant fucking explosion.

The strings slackened.

A swinging wave crept up towards Vega. She tensed up, preparing herself for whatever Amaya flung her way.

Useless.

The arcane strings yanked Vega aside. Twisting her body, sending her spiralling downwards.

Vega couldn’t make out the ground from the sky as she plummeted down. She lost sight of Amaya, along with everything else in her rapidly rotating reality. The glimpses of infernal red strings didn’t tell Vega where she was.

A face full of gravel did.

Vega felt a crack roll down her neck as it crunched beneath the impact of her own body. Her pent up energy released, detonating harmlessly into the arena floor.

Her own shockwave sent her flying. Vega ragdolled into the air, unable to orient herself with an explosion. Her ankle snapped down again, whipping the rest of her body back into the ground with it.

Vega didn’t just hear her body crack this time; she felt her neck grind against her spine, her body crumbling in on itself.

Vega’s back pressed against the gravel. Unmoving. Chained to the ground by two of her limbs.

She tried to raise her left arm. A slab of steel pressed it back down to the ground. Ezekiel crushed her wrist under his weight.

Vega was almost too disorientated to scream.

Almost.

Her agonizing wails filled the arena until Ezekiel’s boot clamped her throat shut.

He spat blood on the ground, barely missing Vega’s face as he leered down at her.

Vega’s ears rang with the cacophony of a million bells. But a grating voice broke their discordant harmony.

“I wonder what I’ll scream… when you burn me alive.” He said, grinding out each word with spiteful venom.

Vega didn’t meet his eyes. She looked to her side. Through her blurry haze of vision, she saw Amaya crouching, removing armour from her satchel.

Vega flailed her limbs. Only two of them answered.

She tried to jerk Ezekiel from on top of her, but she had no strength left.

She tried to build up an explosive marble, anything to give her more room to move.

She couldn’t.

Ezekiel’s boot pressed harder into her neck.

“I wonder who I’ll call out for… in my final moments.”

Amaya continued building her Arcane Knight. Vega could do nothing but stare.

It rose, awakened by infernal light. It didn’t wield a sword and shield this time. Only a colossal executioner’s axe.

“I wonder what I’ll think about… in the last few seconds before you extinguish the flickering flames of my pitiful existence.”

Amaya sauntered over, followed by her Arcane Executioner.

For the first time since the fight had started, her face twisted into the sneer she’d worn at the Celestial Swords tavern. She walked beside Vega’s head. Her puppet stood opposite her, and Ezekiel finally removed his boot.

“Do you think your fans are wondering?” Said Amaya. Her shrill, gleeful voice pierced Vega’s battered ears.

“Do you think your sister’s wondering?”

The puppet raised its axe.

“I guess she’ll never know.”

Time seemed to slow as the metal blade swung closer to Vega’s exposed neck.

Ah shit.

You’re probably gonna blame yourself for this.

I’m so sorry Lyra.

I’m so fucking sorry.